The seas will no longer be safe in the upcoming robot apocalypse

When robots take over the world where will you be? Until now the water has always been a safe bet. Few robots venture forth into the seas, after all you never saw the Terminator in Speedos.

Researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology have developed ‘Swumanoid’, a robot that mimics human swimming movements. The slightly disturbing looking robot incorporates 20 water proof motors, which are computer controlled to mimic the action of real human swimmers.

Increasing the driving force of the hands and feet, and reducing body resistance to the water, are two major issues facing designers Chung Changhyun and Motomu Nakashima.  Motors inside the half human sized robot, actuate the movement of the upper limbs, whilst one motor moves the waist. Each arm has six degrees of freedom; the shoulder has four; and the elbow two. Joints reproduce scapular retraction, making reproduction of the front crawl realistic enough to make us rethink our escape plans come the apocalypse.

More information can be found here.